Trump Spoke to Cuomo About Running for Mayor
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that President Donald Trump discussed the mayoral race in a phone call with Andrew Cuomo after he lost the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani. The Times also reports that Trump was briefed by two Cuomo supporters — the pollster Mark Penn and former City Council president Andrew Stein — on the viability of his campaign against Mamdani. It appears the president is considering some level of involvement in his hometown’s election.
While Trump has railed that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is a communist, he has been less critical of Cuomo, suggesting that he should stay in the race despite his primary loss. “I think Andrew would have a good shot,” Trump told reporters last month. But the former governor, who tussled with Trump during the pandemic, has taken some shots at the president during his mayoral campaign. In a primary ad, Cuomo suggested Mamdani didn’t have what it takes to stand up to Trump, the voice-over saying, “Trump is at the city gates. We need someone who can slam them shut.”
The Cuomo campaign downplayed the Times report in a statement. “The Governor and the President have not spoken in some time. As far as I know, they have not discussed the race,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said.
When asked by reporters in the Oval Office about the reported phone call, Trump denied speaking to Cuomo recently. “I haven’t. No, I haven’t,” he said.
Trump’s interest in Cuomo against Mamdani is an apparent slight of the other candidates in the race, such as Mayor Eric Adams, who caught a lucky break from the Trump Justice Department when it dropped criminal charges against him, prompting mass resignations throughout the department in protest.
Any potential intervention from Trump into the mayor’s race would likely be a boon for Mamdani, who has sought to contrast himself with Cuomo and Adams and present himself as the candidate best suited to opposing Trump and his policies from City Hall. After the Times report, Mamdani shared an early campaign video focused on Cuomo that compared him to Trump. “There’s a reason we shot this video in front of Trump Tower,” he wrote.
There’s a reason we shot this video in front of Trump Tower. https://t.co/RROE19bDlU
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) August 6, 2025
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